In this new paper “Patchy Progress on Obesity Prevention: Emerging Examples, Entrenched Barriers, and New Thinking”, Christina Roberto and her colleagues explain that no country has reversed its obesity epidemic. There have been isolated pockets of progress, but it has not been enough. The paper describes different regulatory and non-regulatory strategies that have been implemented around the world to try to improve diet, but also points to barriers impeding positive change. The authors argue that obesity cannot be attributed only to personal choices or environmental forces, as often happens. Instead, these perspectives must be merged to reflect the reciprocal relationship between an individual’s food choices and a food environment that helps shape those choices. Published as one of a six-part series on obesity in The Lancet, the paper identifies lobbying from the food industry, inability or unwillingness of governments to implement policies, and an absence of societal pressure for political action as barriers of progress. Roberto and her colleagues state that governments must issue “smart food policies” to improve food environments and make healthy eating easier. The authors argue that “smart food policies” alongside joint efforts from industry and society can help halt and reverse the vicious cycle of exploitive food environments and individual’s preferences and demands for food of poor nutritional quality that has driven the global obesity epidemic.
Below is an audio discussion with Christina Roberto and Richard Lane that was held as part of The Lancet’s Obesity Series.
Source: Roeder, A. (2015, February 18). Obesity epidemic needs new approach. Harvard Gazette. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/02/obesity-epidemic-needs-new-approach/
